Meryl Streep Movies
Sydney Pollack -- one of Meryl Streep's collaborators time and again -- once proclaimed her the most gifted film actress of the late 20th century. Most insiders would concur with this assessment. To avid moviegoers, she represents the essence of onscreen dramatic art. Like Hoffman (and De Niro), she demonstrates a transcendent ability to plunge into her characters and lose herself inside of them, transforming herself physically to meet the demands of her roles. A luminous blonde with nearly translucent pale skin, intelligent blue eyes, and an elegant facial bone structure, Streep sustains a fragile, fleeting beauty that allows her to travel the spectrum between earthily plain (Ironweed), and ethereally glamorous and radiant (Manhattan, Heartburn).Born June 22, 1949, in Summit, NJ, Streep took operatic voice lessons, and subsequently cultivated a fascination with acting while she attended Bernards High School. Upon graduation, Streep studied drama at Vassar, Dartmouth, and Yale, where she appeared in 30 to 40 productions with the Yale Repertory Theater. With a five-star education and years of collegiate stage work under her belt, Streep headed for the New York footlights and launched her off-Broadway career. Streep's performance in Tennessee Williams' 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, for which she received a Tony nomination, constitutes a particularly strong theatrical highlight from this period. She made her television debut in Robert Markowitz's The Deadliest Season (1977). That year she also appeared onscreen for the first time in Fred Zinnmann's Julia (1977) as Anna Marie, opposite heavyweights Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, and Hal Holbrook. The following year, Streep picked up an Emmy for her performance in Marvin J. Chomsky's miniseries Holocaust. She first teamed with De Niro in Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978).
Around this time, Streep became involved with the diminutive performer John Cazale, whom she met on the set of the Cimino film. Tragically, this marriage was ill-fated from day one, Cazale's frail body ridden with bone cancer. Forty-two at the time, he passed away in March 1978, nine months prior to the premiere of The Deer Hunter. Streep later wed Don Gummer, who was not associated with Hollywood in any capacity.
Streep next appeared as Woody Allen's ruthless lesbian ex-wife in his elegiac comedy drama Manhattan (1979) and Alan Alda's Southern mistress in the scathing political satire The Seduction of Joe Tynan. Her shattering interpretation of the scarred and torn Joanna Kramer opposite Dustin Hoffman in Robert Benton's heartbreaking divorce saga Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), earned her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1980 -- which she famously left on top of a toilet at the festivities -- alongside a plethora of L.A. Film Critics Association, New York Film Critics Circle, and Golden Globe Awards for the Allen, Benton, and Alda films.
Streep continued her ascent over the next decade by establishing herself as Hollywood's top box-office draw and a critical darling. Her double performance in the innovative Karel Reisz/Harold Pinter triumph The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), her gut-wrenching interpretation of the titular Holocaust survivor in Alan J. Pakula's haunting adaptation Sophie's Choice (1982), and her thoughtful evocation of Karen Silkwood in Mike Nichols' drama Silkwood were highlights of the period. In the latter, she portrays a real-life victimized nuclear-plant worker who mysteriously disappears just prior to turning in crucial evidence against her employers.
Streep's decision to headline Sydney Pollack's lush epic Out of Africa (1985), as Karen Blixen, sustained her reputation. She would go on over the next decade to appear in projects like but Ironweed, Heartburn, She-Devil, Postcards from the Edge, and Death Becomes Her. In 1994, she again surprised her fans when she appeared as a muscular expert whitewater rafter who must fight a raging river and two dangerous fugitives to save her family in the action thriller River Wild (1994). In interviews, she said she did the film because she wanted to have an adventure like Harrison Ford and to overcome a few of her own fears.
Streep returned to the depth and multifacetedness of her early roles -- with much concomitant success -- when she took a more low-key role as a dowdy, Earthbound farm wife who finds Illicit love with an itinerant photographer (Clint Eastwood) in The Bridges of Madison County. Following the critical and commercial heights of Bridges, Streep picked up yet another Oscar nomination for her performance as a terminally ill wife and mother in Carl Franklin's One True Thing (1998).
Streep then signed on to replace Madonna as the lead in 1999's Music of the Heart, tackling what outwardly appeared to be a cookbook Hollywood plot (a teacher on a mission to teach violin to a class of inner-city youth in Harlem) with absolute commitment, teaching herself to play the violin by practicing six hours a day for eight weeks. In the new millennium, Streep hit audiences with the back-to-back with lauded performances in Adaptation and The Hours, earning an Oscar nomination for the former and a Golden Globe nomination for the latter.
On the heels of this success, Streep won an Emmy in 2004 for her participation in longtime friend and collaborator Mike Nichols' Angels in America mini-series. She soon afterward won even greater audience and critic approval for her biting role as a corporate and political conspirator in Jonathan Demme's remake of the 1962 thriller The Manchurian Candidate. Streepfollowed this up with a part in the lighthearted comedies Prime, A Prairie Home Companion, and The Devil Wears Prada.
In 2007 Streep starred in a pair of timely dramas about the Iraq War, Lions for Lambs and Rendition, before returning to the musical comedy milieu with 2008's Mamma Mia!. The adaptation of the smash stage musical shattered box-office records, becoming the highest grossing film in the history of the United Kingdom, and the biggest American hit of her illustrious career. She followed that up with the lead role in John Patrick Shanley's adaptation of his award-winning play Doubt, a performance that earned her fifteenth acting nomination from the Academy, as well as nods from the Screen Actors Guild, and the Hollywood Foreign Press.
The renowned actress was nominated yet again for the Academy Award and the Screen Actors Guild the following year for her turn as Julia Child in the comedy Julie & Julia, a role that also garnered her a win for Best Actress from the New York Film Critics as well as the Golden Globes. That same year she played the lead for Nancy Myers in the box office hit It's Complicated, only to dive directly back into the Oscar spotlight again the next year with her acclaimed performance as English Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 2012's The Iron Lady. The role garnered Streep her 17th Academy Award nomination -- resulting in her third win, this time for Best Actress, in addition to Best Actress wins from the New York Film Critics Circle and the Golden Globes. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
Three women, separated by a span of nearly 80 years, find themselves weathering similar crises, all linked by a single work of literature in this film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Cunningham. In 1923, Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) is attempting to start work on her novel Mrs. Dalloway, in which she chronicles one day in the life of a troubled woman. But Virginia has demons of her own, and she struggles to overcome the depression and suicidal impulses that have followed her throughout her life, as her husband Leonard (Stephen Dillane) ineffectually tries to help. In 1951, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) is a housewife living in suburban Los Angeles, where she looks after her son Richie (Jack Rovello) and husband Dan (John C. Reilly). Laura is also an avid reader who is currently making her way through Mrs. Dalloway. The farther she gets into the novel, the more Laura discovers that it reflects a dissatisfaction she feels in her own life, and she finds herself pondering the notion of leaving her life behind. Finally, in 2000, Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep) is a literary editor who is caring for Richard Brown (Ed Harris), a former boyfriend and noted author, who is slowly losing his fight with AIDS. Clarissa is trying to arrange a party to celebrate the fact that Richard has won a prestigious literary award, but is getting little help from Richard's ex-lover, Louis (Jeff Daniels). As she labors to help Richard through another day, he wonders if his life is worth the unending struggle. The Hours also features Toni Collette, Miranda Richardson, Allison Janney, and Claire Danes. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, (more)
- 2002
Filmmakers Phillip B. Kunhardt III, Nancy Steiner, and Peter W. Kunhardt explore the eternal struggle for liberty in America while simultaneously illuminating the hypocritical underlying factors that undermined the colonist's bold "experiment in freedom," in a revealing documentary featuring the voices of Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, Michael Caine, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins , Meryl Streep, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert Redford and many more. As the newly arrived British subjects staged the revolution that would cut loose their ties to Great Britain and give birth to a new era of freedom, a new hope for liberty emerged - but how then does one justify the presence of slavery in a society founded on the claim of all men being "created equal?" A blight on the quest for liberty and freedom that literally divided a struggling young nation right down the middle, slavery would be the last true obstacle in ensuring that the land of the free would truly live up to the ideals set forth by the founding fathers. As the north and the south set the stage for a bloody four-year war that would go down in history as one of the most brutal internal struggles ever waged, the resulting Civil War showed the willingness of Americans to actually stand up and fight to protect the rights of others as stated in the Constitution. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
The creative team behind Being John Malkovich -- director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman -- return with this equally offbeat comedy, in which Kaufman himself becomes the leading character. Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) is a gifted but profoundly neurotic screenwriter who, after the success of Being John Malkovich, has been hired to write a script adapted from the nonfiction book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. But while Charlie is obsessive about his work, he's also intensely paranoid, given to deep depression, socially inept, and terrified of talking to women, qualities which are making it difficult to get on with his work or hold on to his tenuous relationship with girlfriend Amelia (Cara Seymour). Meanwhile, Charlie's identical twin brother, Donald Kaufman (also played by Cage), has shown up to move in with his brother. Emotionally, Donald is Charlie's polar opposite -- a loudmouthed, over-confident, superficial party animal who has an easy way with the ladies. Donald has decided to follow his brother's footsteps and take up screenwriting as well, but embracing the dictates of screenwriting tutor Robert McKee (Brian Cox), he's cranking out a cliché-ridden serial-killer thriller when not busy making time with new girlfriend Caroline (Maggie Gyllenhaal). As Donald blazes through his screenplay, Charlie slowly picks away at his story, in which author Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) chronicles John Laroche (Chris Cooper), a scruffy but devoted plant enthusiast who tries to save rare species of orchids by stealing them from their natural home in the swamps of Florida. As John and Susan become better acquainted, they find themselves attracted to one another; similarly, Charlie finds himself increasingly fascinated with Susan, and finds himself falling in love with her, even though he's only seen her photo on the dust jacket of her book. Charlie arranges to meet Susan, but is too nervous to confront her face to face, so he sends Donald (who has just scored a seven-figure deal for his script) in his place, while he attends a screenwriting seminar held by McKee. Adaptation also features Tilda Swinton, Judy Greer, and Stephen Tobolowsky. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, (more)
- 2001
- PG13
- Add A.I.: Artificial Intelligence to Queue Add A.I.: Artificial Intelligence to top of Queue
Based on the 1969 short story Super-Toys Last All Summer Long, by Brian Aldiss, this science fiction fantasy bears similarities to Pinocchio (1940) and originated as a long-gestating project of director Stanley Kubrick that passed to his friend Steven Spielberg after Kubrick's death. Haley Joel Osment stars as David, a "mecha" or robot of the future, when the polar ice caps have melted and submerged many coastal cities, causing worldwide starvation and human dependence upon robotic assistance. The first mecha designed to experience love, David is the "son" of Henry (Sam Robards), an employee of the company that built the boy, and the grief-stricken Monica (Frances O'Connor). David is meant to replace the couple's hopelessly comatose son, but when their natural child recovers, David is abandoned and sets out to become "a real boy" worthy of his mother's affection. Along the way, David is mentored by a pleasure-providing mecha named Gigolo Joe (Jude Law) and a talking "super toy" bear named Teddy. His adventures take him to the Roman Circus-style "Flesh Fair," where mechas are destroyed for the amusement of humans; Rouge City, where Gigolo Joe narrowly avoids capture by police; and finally a submerged New York City, where David's creator, Professor Hobby (William Hurt) reveals the secrets of the boy's creation. Brendan Gleeson and narrator Ben Kingsley co-star in A.I., which was adapted from Kubrick's treatment by Spielberg, in his first crack at screenwriting since Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, (more)
The Dutch painter Jan Vermeer attained recognition for the innovative use of light in his tableaux. This art-themed documentary uses numerous works by that master painter to investigate the basic question of "what makes a Vermeer a Vermeer?," or more specifically, which compositional elements recurred throughout his work? And what were the artist's inherent "secrets"? To answer these queries, the program begins with an up-close examination of the paintings, but then moves beyond the surface levels of the canvasses via such techniques as computer technology, infrared light and x-rays. It also provides in-depth discussions of Vermeer's uses of color, scale and composition and his choice of subjects per se. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- 2000
A documentary about the iconic career of actor and filmmaker Clint Eastwood, Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows traces its subject's work from his earliest days in Hollywood to his award-winning (and career-salvaging) films of the 1990s. Directed by Bruce Ricker, who also made the lauded jazz films The Last of the Blue Devils and Thelonious Monk - Straight, No Chaser, the documentary combines archival footage with interviews from the likes of Sergio Leone, Curtis Hanson, Rip Torn, Meryl Streep, and, naturally, the man himself. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, (more)
- 2000
Actress Meryl Streep narrates this four-part series about America's development of its public school systems since 1770. Each video includes interviews with past teachers, students, and parents as it reflects on how different educational programs have benefited various communities. Diary excerpts and archival footage help bring to life some of the most important moments in educational history. Volume three starts with the year 1950 when issues like segregation, busing, and civil rights were forcing administrators to rethink how they were putting school districts together and designing programs within each school. Other critical events are covered, including the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954 and President Lyndon B. Johnson's Elementary and Secondary Education Acts, and the passage of Title IX. ~ Elizabeth Smith, Rovi
- 2000
Actress Meryl Streep narrates this four-part series about America's development of its public school systems since 1770. Each video includes interviews with past teachers, students, and parents as it reflects on how different educational programs have benefited various communities. Diary excerpts and archival footage help bring to life some of the most important moments in educational history. Volume four reviews the 1983 "A Nation at Risk" report and addresses issues involving private schools, vouchers, charter schools, and the need todevelop meaningful learning standards. ~ Elizabeth Smith, Rovi
- 2000
Actress Meryl Streep narrates this four-part series about America's development of its public school systems since 1770. Each video includes interviews with past teachers, students, and parents as it reflects on how different educational programs have benefited various communities. Diary excerpts and archival footage help bring to life some of the most important moments in educational history. Volume two begins its coverage with the year 1900 when only six percent of the nation's teenagers were graduating from high school. Segments also review how the Great Depression, child labor law reforms, and immigration impacted the development of schools in different parts of the country. Experts also comment on the design of the first IQ test. ~ Elizabeth Smith, Rovi
- 2000
Actress Meryl Streep narrates this four-part series about America's development of its public school systems since 1770. Each video includes interviews with past teachers, students, and parents as it reflects on how different educational programs have benefited various communities. Diary excerpts and archival footage help bring to life some of the most important moments in educational history. Volume one examines how leaders like Noah Webster, Horace Mann, and Thomas Jefferson created strong programs to educate the public. Segments also address educating specific age groups, how long students should attend classes, and who should fund these programs. Stories are also shared about some of the country's earliest one-room schoolhouses. ~ Elizabeth Smith, Rovi
The year 2000 represented two major anniversaries in the life of the great violinist Isaac Stern: his 80th birthday and his 40th year as president of Carnegie Hall, the venue that he helped save from imminent demolition in the 1960s. Isaac Stern: Life's Virtuoso commemorates these and other remarkable accomplishments, including Stern's participation in cultural exchange programs with China, Germany, and the Soviet Union; his political involvement in Israel; and his devoted mentorship of young musicians. Commentary by the likes of Henry Kissinger, Shimon Peres, Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Zubin Mehta, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Daniel Schorr, and Gregory Peck is spliced with performances that showcase Stern's incomparable artistry. Rare archival footage and touching clips from home movies complete this portrait of a truly remarkable figure. ~ Sarah Welsh, Rovi
Directors: Wes Craven profiles the acclaimed horror movie director best-known for A Nightmare on Elm Street and the Scream series. The mind behind cult classics The Hills Have Eyes and Swamp Thing, young Craven had an impressive knack for turning low-budget scripts into entertaining films with some artistic merit. Today, he is the most commercially successful scary movie director in Hollywood. The American Film Institute documentary features interviews with Wes Craven, Bill Pullman, Neve Campbell, Robert Englund, Mitch Pileggi, Meryl Streep, and Kristy Swanson. ~ Betsy Boyd, Rovi
Directors: Clint Eastwood profiles the acclaimed actor, director, and Hollywood icon. Eastwood has entertained generations of people, moving successfully back and forth between acting and directing. Here, Eastwood discusses his more commercial directing projects, such as Unforgiven, The Bridges of Madison County, Absolute Power, and True Crime. Actors interviewed share one sentiment: when Eastwood requests their presence, they rarely refuse. The American Film Institute program, directed by Robert J. Emery, features interviews with Morgan Freeman, Laura Dern, Geoffrey Lewis, Donna Mills, Meryl Streep, and Ed Harris. The video serves as a good introduction to Eastwood's work for those unfamiliar and covers a lot of ground in one hour. ~ Betsy Boyd, Rovi
- 1999
Leonardo da Vinci painted only three portraits of women, and only one of those has a place in the Western Hemisphere. Ginevra de Benci, by Leonardo da Vinci, is perhaps the most prized painting in the National Gallery of Art collection. In this documentary, narrated by actress Meryl Streep, the viewer goes to Washington, D.C., to the National Gallery's painting conservation laboratory to try to solve some of the questions that surround the painting Genevra. Who was the model for the picture? Why are both sides of the canvas painted? Why does one part of the painting appear to be missing? Why was the painting sealed in a wine cellar? X-ray analysis and infrared reflectography are employed to look below the surface to find an underdrawing. Computer technology enables the missing part of the painting to be reconstructed. Art history and detective story are joined in this documentary. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, Rovi
After devoting his career to such horror films as Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Last House on the Left, director Wes Craven makes a dramatic change of pace with this inspiring drama about a teacher who helps change the lives of her students. Roberta Guaspari-Tzavaras (Meryl Streep) teaches at an elementary school in Harlem, where discipline is a higher priority than the lively arts. But Roberta believes that studying music will give the children a sense of purpose invaluable in later life. Despite indifference from the school administration and budget cuts that force her to seek outside funding (and even threaten her job), Roberta struggles to teach the violin to her students, instilling a love of classical music in kids who might otherwise never have heard Bach or Mozart, and leading to a student recital at Carnegie Hall. Angela Bassett, Cloris Leachman, and Aidan Quinn highlight the supporting cast, and virtuoso violinists Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, and Mark O'Connor appear as themselves. The Music of the Heart is based on a true story; the real Roberta Guaspari-Tzavaras and her students can be seen in the documentary Small Wonders. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Aidan Quinn, (more)
Carl Franklin directed this family drama adapted from the 1995 novel by former New York Times columnist Anna Quindlen about a young woman who goes back home to take care of her dying mother. In 1987-88, independent Ellen Gulden (Renee Zellweger), a Harvard grad, is working on a New York Magazine investigative article when she hears from her father, George (William Hurt), a literary critic and university professor. He tells Ellen she's needed at home to care for her mother, Kate (Meryl Streep), who's due for surgery. Ellen needs to get away from the problems of her relationship with her boyfriend Jordan (Nicky Katt), but she plans to continue work on the magazine article from home. In truth, Ellen is uncomfortable with her mother's various ladies club lunches, and holiday preparations, and she finds communication with her mother awkward. Once Ellen arrives back home, she's dismayed to find herself caught in the web of her mother's Middle America activities. Ellen's attitude changes when it becomes apparent this probably will be the final Thanksgiving and Christmas with all family members present. But tensions erupt as long-buried family secrets emerge. Locations in New Jersey were used to create the film's Eastern coastal college town. Shown at the 1998 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Renée Zellweger, (more)
Irish director Pat O'Connor helmed this adaptation of Brian Friel's 1990 play which won three Tony awards in addition to UK Olivier and Evening Standard awards. Friel's portrait of five Irish sisters takes place in 1936 on a Donegal farm. The unmarried Mundy sisters are barely surviving. Middle-aged schoolteacher Kate (Meryl Streep) is the eldest, overseeing pretty Christina (Catherine McCormack), lively Maggie (Kathy Burke, re-creating her Tony award-winning role), reliable Agnes (Brid Brennan), and Rose (Sophie Thompson), who has a secret affair with a married man. Christina is the mother of eight-year-old Michael (Darrell Johnston), beneficiary of much attention from his four aunts. The story of a turning-point summer is told in retrospect by the adult Michael and begins when the sisters welcome their older brother Jack (Michael Gambon) as he returns home from missionary work in Africa. Michael's father Gerry Evans (Rhys Ifans) makes an unexpected arrival, winning back both Michael and mom before joining the International Brigade to fight Franco in Spain. Kate loses her teaching position, and the sister's income from their handwoven clothing is threatened by the announced opening of a woolens factory. Shown at 1998 fests (Venice, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Michael Gambon, (more)
- 1998
Originally broadcast on PBS, this Voices and Visions episode concentrates on William Styron and his works. He is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Confessions of Nat Turner and Sophie's Choice. Nat Turner generated controversy for Styron's fictional portrayal of the interior life of the leader of a slave rebellion, and Sophie's Choice made it to the popular cinema. Styron has also unflinchingly documented his struggles with depression. Watch this video to find what he thinks, and what others think of him. ~ Leslie Birdwell, Rovi
- 1998
A story from children's author Kevin Henkes -- whose tales, illustrated with sketches of friendly mice, offer gentle but important lessons about understanding others and yourself -- comes to life in this animated video. Chrysanthemum tells the story of a little girl with a very big name; she wonders if her name might be more trouble than it's worth until she learns more about the flower she was named for. Meryl Streep serves as narrator. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep
As actor, director, and executive producer, Sydney Pollack has been involved with some of Hollywood's most acclaimed works including Tootsie, Out of Africa, and Three Days of the Condor. This video profile highlights his life and career. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
When the youngest son of a rural Midwestern family is diagnosed with epilepsy just as their insurance is set to run out, his mother dedicates her life to the illness and all of its potential treatments. Eventually she comes across the ketogenic diet, a method of limiting carbohydrates and protein in a way that some believe decreases the chance of seizures. The diet is controversial, however, and their local doctor strongly advises against employing it. Despite this advice, the child is taken to a Baltimore facility in order to proceed with the experimental treatment. First Do No Harm is based on a true story, and stars Meryl Streep, Fred Ward, Seth Adkins, Tom Butler, and Allison Janney.
~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Fred Ward, (more)
- 1996
- NR
Utilizing archival footage, personal interviews and film clips, This compilation film, recounts the colorful history of and pays tribute to one of Hollywood's most enduring studios, Universal Studios. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Dreyfuss
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